Things change rather dramatically from one generation to the next. For example, Johnny Carson was a very big deal for much of my life. He began hosting the Tonight Show just after my first birthday in 1962. For my first 30 years, Johnny Carson was a big deal. His place in television was unique, enormous and there hasn’t been anyone like him since.

He retired from that show in 1992, just a couple of weeks after our son Philip was born. How could I possibly explain Johnny Carson to Philip? Even if I shared video clips, his jokes were on contemporary events from then, his interviews were of celebrities from then. How could Philip ever really get that? And if I tried to explain it to our grandchildren? They are so polite. They would patiently wait for grandpa to finish his, “Back in my day…” story then get on with their lives, their times, their interests, as they should.

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Once upon a time our oldest son, Rob, wanted the latest gaming system in the worst way. Nintendo or PlayStation, I can’t remember which, but it was a big ask. Mom was on his side, so I knew where this was going but we agreed to have him earn it. Rather than add to his list of chores, I challenged him to three tasks:

1. Memorize the Lord’s Prayer. That would give him an immediate sense of accomplishment, the boy had been saying it in church his whole life, as long as he could remember. But I wanted him to say it alone, to prepare him for the times when he would be really alone, really scared, in deep need for God’s presence and to feel God’s grace.

2. Read Stuart Little, because E.B. White was an excellent author and it was one of the books that Meg and I both love and had when we combined our lives and our stuff. He was at just the right age to enjoy that adventure.

3. Memorize the 23rd Psalm.

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In today’s Gospel, we find ourselves right back where we were last week, with the disciples gathered that first Easter evening. Last week we heard John’s account, this time coming from Luke. The disciples are trying to process the wild testimony from Mary, Peter and John that morning. They are trying to process the witness of the two disciples who just returned from Emmaus. They want to hope – but this news is unbelievable, literally incredible.

Then, Jesus comes. Luke describes a mix of astonishment and fear when suddenly he is there. Of course they were shocked. They knew death, certainly better that most people today would. In their time, when someone died, they didn’t call Marion-Nelson to deal with the body. They took the deceased to his or her own home and all the family and friends saw them. And they buried them in the ground or a tomb quickly. They didn’t expect people to get up any more than we do. And Jesus’ body had gone straight and quickly into a tomb because of the Passover and Sabbath.

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